b'Through compassion, understanding and tangible assis-tance, tens of thousands of at-risk animals stayed out of crowd-ed shelters and with the people who loved them.Theconventionalrescuenarrative,repeatedbyactivists who are largely middle-class or affluent, rendersthese humans invisible, Mithers said. Rescues and sheltersare way stations on a pets road to a better home. It feedsthe contempt that too many Americans already feel for theless fortunate. Its easy to say something like Id sleep on thestreetbeforeIgaveupmydog whenyoudontfacethatchoice.The book is peppered throughout with the history ofmodern day animal rescue and the beginnings of the no-killmovementthe good, the bad and the ugly. AShiftFromSaviorismtoPartnershipandCollaboration If animal lovers and advocates still haventfoundtheanswertoendingshelterdeath,maybeitisbecause no one has been asking the right questions. Thekindofprograms Weisepioneeredaremoremainstreamthese days, but the old narrativeus versus themhasnever lost its hold. Isnt it time to let it go? UBig Love and War Horseby Shallen Anne ChitwoodS.A. Chitwood, 2024Two dogs are the protagonists inthisstoryoflostloveandredemption,setduringtheGreat Depression of 1942 offtheOuterBanksofNorthCarolina.WarHorse, aDobermanPinscher(namedforhisgreatsize)andBigLove, a Great Pyrenees, offertheir observations throughout the book withthe occasional opinion and thoughts in their voices, addedto the narrative. Shallen Anne Chitwood, the author, does a fine job ofrichly developing each character, including the dogs. Thisreader became emotionally connected to each member ofthe Deacon family, who struggle to make sense of the secretstheyarekeepingfromoneanother,whileloathingthenovels antagonists. Meanwhile, the dogs always have theirhumans backs.Chitwood weaves World War II into her storys setting.German U-Boats attacked American and British merchantships carrying vital supplies to the Allies in Europe alongthe East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico.By July of 1942, 397 ships had been sunk or damaged.More than 5,000 people had been killed. The greatest con-centration of U-boat attacks happened off North CarolinasOuter Banks, where dozens of ships passed daily. Continued on following page gwww.TheNewBarker.com THE NEW BARKER 55'